Welcome to What’s in the Boooox? where I look at a subscription box and see what’s in it. It’s just like an unboxing video, without the audio/visual aspects of it.

Quick note: on Monday I posted an article about my favorite YouTube show, Comic Trips. Now Comic Trips posts unboxing videos call “What’s in the Box?” I want to clarify that I started writing these before I had seen any of their great videos and did not crib my title from them. I believe that this can be chalked up to a “great minds” situation and a mutual love of Braddy P’s performance in Se7en.

Plus they have “What’s in the Box?” I’m “What’s in the Booooox?” It’s a whole McDonald’s/McDowell’s situation.

Today, I am looking at the first offering from the World’s Finest subscription box from Culture Fly. This inaugural box’s theme is Batman.

What I can’t figure out about this box is the lack of promotion for it. Months ago I saw a few articles online and a few weeks ago there was a segment on DC’s All Access YouTube show that mentioned it.

Maybe they’re heavily advertising on Facebook or some other social media platform I don’t participate in? If not for the above video though, I wouldn’t have known where to purchase the box.

THE THEME: Well, this is certainly a Batman box. Every item here screams “Dark Knight!” Can’t fault them for not following up on the theme.

THE VINYL FIGURE:

The item that was previewed from this box was a vinyl Batman figure based on the current Greg Cappulo Rebirth design. From what little I’ve seen about this box, I think these are supposed to be the signature item for them. Presumably, there will be one in each box. Well, “figure.” I’m not sure what you would call this. Is vinyl statue a thing? I am troubled by calling this a figure due to the total lack of articulation I expect from an action figure. INaction figure? Maybe like NECA did of the Masters of the Universe figures a while back? Just sayin’.

It is definitely action figure sized and has an ok sculpt. This is a full sculpt, there is another arm under that cape. After years of great Batman action figures, my expectations for a Batman figure are pretty high. The base is nice and will guarantee that I display this. The one choice I can’t get past is the lack of black on the utility belt that Batman now sports with this suit. The contents of this box are CLEARLY Rebirth Batman so this seems like an odd choice. Oversight by laziness or not wanting to shell out for a little more black paint?

This is what I am talking about, literally.

The box the “figure” came in has some odd directions on the back for displaying. My best interpretation is that you’re supposed to take the background card out of the box and fold it backwards from how it came and place it back in the box. How I have it in the picture is how I think it is supposed to be. (?)

THE T-SHIRT:

So, this shirt is a pretty standard Wayne Industries logo design. White on a black shirt. Ok, but my expectations for t-shirt design is very high due to my day-to-day. Big issue for me here is the lack of larger sizes. I’m a big boy and I need a big shirt. I’ll wear this around the house and to take the dog outside, but not around town or a convention. Bigger sizes please.

THE PRINT:

Hey, a cool David Finch Batman print! I was really hoping for a comic book in this since it is a DC box and the “C” stands for comics, but this is a nice runner-up. This is a nice print that can be framed. The surprising thing is that this nice print was just laying in the bottom of the box. As you can see from the pic, there are some scratches on it. A plastic sleeve was out of the question for this? This box has obviously put a lot of detail into presentation and is very well designed. Therefore, it seems strange that no one questioned throwing a print loose in a box that was going to travel through the mail. Hopefully glass from a frame will hide the scuffs.

THE MUG:

A cool Batman mug! I can get behind this. Now, the mug is listed as the Smoke Grenade Travel Mug. I guess the mug is meant to look like one of Batman’s smoke grenades. Look, I’ll drink out of a Batman mug. I’ve been doing it my whole life! You don’t have to give me hard sell, mug. Just be a mug, mug.

Real talk: I haven’t figured out how you open up this mug yet. I feel like I’m going to be trying and break it. I’m getting concerned that it might actually contain smokescreen. This might be a problem.

THE UMBRELLA:

Ok, now this is an item that needs to pretend it’s something it’s not. The Grappling Hook Umbrella is a great concept for a Batman umbrella! An umbrella with a handle that mimics Batman’s grappling gun with two Batman symbols on the top. The strap to wrap it up also has the symbol on it.

I received this box when I came home for lunch today. Bonus: it’s been raining off and on today so that was a nice coincidence. Hence, I took the umbrella back to work with me. The first thing all my co-workers said was “Why not a Penguin umbrella?” Uuuuhhh, because it’s a Batman umbrella? I don’t know why it’s not a Penguin styled umbrella. It’s definitely a missed opportunity. Has there ever been a commercially available Penguin umbrella? Maybe back during Batman Returns? A Halloween costume or something? I don’t know. This is a great BATMAN themed umbrella though. Even with my reservations about the grappling gun in general (I don’t like it, but we’ll get into that some other time), it works for this item.

Oh yeah, the umbrella also comes in a bag with the Rebirth Batman symbol on it.

“PUSH PINS” AND UTILITY CARD:

Inside the box was this cool Blu-ray sized tin. Now, I knew there was no way in hell they sent ANY type of disc, but it’s a cool case. Upon opening it, I found these two Batarang Push Pins. Now they say they are push pins, but push pins only have one prong. These have two. Therefore, I submit that these are not push pins at all, but in reality are batarang corn on the cob holders. I paid for them, so I think I get to decide what they are. I haven’t attempted to eat corn with them yet, but I’ll get back to you on that.

The Wayne Industries Utility Card is a cool item that I didn’t expect to get in a box like this. I have not tried everything out on this yet (and I probably won’t), but it’s a novel item.

Full disclosure: I brightened up the pic of the black on black utility card here so it would be easier to view. I have done that to some of these other pics, because I am bad at photography. I have NOT altered how any of these items in this box look though. Why be duplicitous about any of this if they aren’t even going to pay me?

THE PATCHES:

The box includes two patches. One is of the Wayne Industries logo like on the shirt. The other is the Rebirth Batman emblem. These are nice, but I don’t have anything to apply them on. Like the Funko DC boxes I get, these patches will end up on a cork board I use to display them.

EVIDENCE BAGS:

Two of the most unique items in this box are the Gotham City Police Department Dossiers. These cards detail information on The Joker and Two-Face. The details are nice, but they are oddly redacted. My guess is that they are supposed to be omitting details about Batman in the cases, but why? Wouldn’t you need to keep a record of these criminals being brought in by a masked vigilante? Seems important.

Anyway, the Joker one comes with a Joker card printed on a very thick plastic. It could almost be a coaster. The thickness of it also makes it feel like it could be displayed in a stand or something.

The Two-Face one comes with his coin, y’all! A two-headed, scarred-like-he-is (it’s a metaphor!), Two-Face coin. This is baller. I know there were some coins produced back when The Dark Knight movie came out. To me this looks similar to those. I’m not sure if it’s the same mold as those. I would have to see them next to each other. Either way, it’s a Two-Face coin. What do you have to bitch about?

Overall, I am very happy about this box. I’m all about Batman so I’m good with a bunch of Batman stuff. The price for this box was just over $50 with shipping. It is a totally good price as there is EASILY over $50 worth of merchandise here. The vinyl “figure”, t-shirt, mug, and umbrella on their own would probably be over fifty in stores. $120 is the advertised value of the contents.

There are two subscription options. Quarterly (the release schedule for this) or Annually. I decided on the quarterly for this first box in case I didn’t like it. Odds are I will subscribe on the annual plan because it’s a little cheaper and I don’t want these charges sneaking up on me every 3 months.

This is great start to this new DC box and I look forward to the next one.